


you'll figure it out one day

by My5tic_Lali



Series: you'll thank me one day [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Headcanon-heavy, but then again what ISNT speculation when it comes to back cover, headcanons, listen i didn't want to get all meta with the seeing-the-future thing but it happened, set pre-Back Cover, speculation about the foretellers & master of masters, talk about time paradoxes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 09:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15579210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My5tic_Lali/pseuds/My5tic_Lali
Summary: The next time he saw something he recognized from a vision, Master dropped everything—quite literally, his one grocery bag tumbling into the alley—to turn the corner toward the fruit stall and the bakery.  This was where he would meet Invi.  He’d Seen the place before.  And his visions were never wrong.She was little—not quite as little as Luxu was when Master found him, and still bigger than Luxu was now, after… what, a year? Two?—with a scarf pulled up to her nose and the strictest-looking school uniform Master had ever seen.  But Master recognized her inquisitive eyes.//set pre-Back Cover.  How Master met Invi





	you'll figure it out one day

**Author's Note:**

> alternative title: you don't understand now, but that's okay  
> alternative alternative title: the choice makes no sense right now but if you only knew what i know  
> alternative alternative alternative title: fate and foreknowledge aren't the same thing, right?

Master wondered, sometimes, if the visions were right. Well, of course they were—the things he Saw always came true. _Always_. Everything he’d ever Seen had come true, or _would_ one day—it _had_ to, after everything Master had done to set them in motion. But did he See the things he Saw _because_ he’d taken actions to make them happen? 

Master had tried to explain it to Luxu, once. He’d been staring up at the sky as he and the kid wandered along some road—Luxu had asked him at least ten times where they were going, and Master honestly woulda told the kid if he’d known, but he couldn’t figure out if they were going to Olympus or that one world with the swamps. He’d decided to go because he’d Seen himself and Luxu running into some Heartless in time to save some wealthy travelers and get some coin, so Master decided to set off to find them. But was it the Olympus or the swamp one? Master couldn’t remember.

So he had looked over at the kid and asked, “What if I’m _not_ Seeing these things _because_ I make them happen?”

Luxu, idly poking at one of his loose teeth, looked up at him long enough to shrug.

“I mean,” Master felt the need to explain, even though the kid probably wouldn’t understand, “Maybe I shouldn’t be doing any of this. Maybe it’s _not_ because of my meddling. Maybe we would still stumble across those travelers, even if you and I didn’t go today. Maybe they’d be there next time we needed to go to Olympus.”

“But, you said they’ll be there when we shows up…” 

Luxu still had trouble with some of his words, and his _th_ s sounded more like _D_ , so Master grinned at the “dey’ll be dere,” then shook his head to refocus on the implied question. “They _will_ be there once we get there. What I See always is.”

“Uhhh,” the kid said, swinging his arms idly, “Then… we should go to the place.” Then he reached over, unzipped and rezipped one of Master’s pockets, then giggled.

And that was the end of that conversation. They did come across those travelers getting mugged, in Olympus, just like he’d Seen.

Master didn’t return to the question for a while—he stayed awake some nights and _thought_ about thinking about it but moved on to another experiment each time instead. Thinking about his Sight was always a risky endeavor. He’d tried to figure it out many times: research into similar magic, manual searches for others like him… nothing had ever turned up. He was probably the first to possess the Sight. And maybe the last.

Anyway, maybe it didn’t matter if he _made_ the future or only fulfilled fate. It had worked so far, hadn’t it? So Master went about his business as usual, teaching Luxu in basic magics and watching the kid become more and more obsessed with matches. Master knew his obsession with fire would only get worse, so he didn’t bother stopping him.

So the next time he saw something he recognized from a vision, Master dropped everything—quite literally, his one grocery bag tumbling into the alley—to turn the corner toward the fruit stall and the bakery. This was where he would meet Invi. He’d Seen the place before.

Master walked into the row between it and the next stall over, looking for her. Invi would be here. He didn’t know how he was going to get her as an apprentice, but this was where she would be when he did. _Which is now_ , he figured, since he was there.

The lady behind the stall looked at him weird as she set up the boxes of strawberries. “Can I help you?” Master peered at her, but shook his head. She was too fair-skinned to be related to his next apprentice. “I’m here to meet someone.”

The shopkeeper glanced at the mostly empty street, then gestured toward the clocktower which was just visible over the next rooftop, “At six in the morning? Barely anyone would be up this early, young man.”

“She’s coming,” Master said, anyway, and tried to remember what he’d Seen about this place before. There was something about the strawberries… Master peered at them. All vividly red, freshly picked. And the cart that they’d just been taken off from was empty besides a half-asleep old man who held the reigns.

For good measure, Master looked behind the stall. No small figure sat there to meet his gaze. Master felt his limbs still, his heart skipping a beat. Where was Invi? This was the place. He knew it.

“Well, if ‘she’s’ not here yet,” the shopkeeper grabbed his attention again, “Would you mind helping me with these displays?”

Master snapped out of his daze to look over. It took him several seconds too long to find his voice again, but when he did it was a smooth, “Of course! I may have mixed up the date…” and gave a fake-rueful laugh. He hurried to her and set up the boxes for her as the shopkeeper babbled on about this and that—town gossip that he was supposed to know or care about—but Master’s head was still spinning. This was where he met Invi. He knew it. Why wasn’t she here? The visions were never wrong.

Clinging to that thought, Master kept idle conversation going with the shopkeeper as the light brightened and the street filled. But even as customers came along and more and more people passed by, there was still no sign of Master’s next apprentice.

Finally, long after his presence there had become awkward, Master left, his mind still reeling.

Luxu didn’t ask him any questions when Master came back that night, just yawned and gave him an apple, and excitedly showed him how he’d stacked all the books he could reach into a giant tower (it almost fell over on the kid, but Master ruffled his hair anyway and he smiled a gap-toothed smile back). It wasn’t enough to distract him from the heavy feeling inside him, but it was enough to tide him over until the moon rose and the kid tumbled into bed.

As Luxu slept, Master broke into the castle which would soon be his and stalked the parapets, letting his feet roam the pathways which he already knew and would know so well. He’d Seen it all. As soon as the old man who currently owned it died, Master would swoop in and clear up the confusion about the deed by producing it out of thin air. But it would be winter when the man fell down those stairs, and, after glancing at the blossoms on the trees, Master realized it was still spring. Not yet, then.

But it _was_ spring, at that little fruit shop, when Master met Invi. He’d Seen it.

So why hadn’t she been there?

A seed of doubt remained in his chest, now that he’d entertained the thought. Could it be that the vision had been wrong?

_No_ , Master refuted. _No, it was a vision. I’d just misremembered. Maybe it’s at a different fruit stall. I am still going to meet Invi._

Master left the parapets of the castle that would be his a few hours later, when the seed of doubt seemed small and his chest didn’t clench at the thought of earlier that day. It was almost dawn by then, but that was okay. Master was used to operating off of little sleep.

///  
As with most days, Master took this one as it came. He and Luxu had been doing a lot of practice on summoning his Keyblade recently, so he woke up and decided to treat the kid to some fresh fruits and a day off. He’d set off from the castle without really thinking about where he was going, and ended up in a bright little town with a clocktower and little other importance. 

He was just wandering around the main street when Master heard a voice, “Did you ever meet up with her?”

Master turned, not recognizing the voice, only to find a shopkeeper with a friendly smile looking back at him from above a display of grapes.

“Huh?”

But then he recognized the street—he was back in that little nothing town with that fruit stall where he was going to meet Invi. And this time, there were other shoppers, and Master’s heart jumped at the realization that _this_ was when he met Invi. “Yes, actually, I did,” Master said to the shopkeep. Confidently, he stepped around a box and his eyes found the figure of a familiar child.

She was little—not quite as little as Luxu was when Master found him, and still bigger than Luxu was now, after… what, a year? Two?—with a scarf pulled up to her nose and the strictest-looking school uniform Master had ever seen. He hated school uniforms, but usually they were rumpled and buttoned wrong because kids always managed to mess up whatever you gave them, in their hurry to go and do whatever it was that was ahead. Sometimes Master felt more like a kid than Luxu, given that he’d forgotten to zip up his own coat at least seven times and the kid had to remind him. But Invi’s uniform was immaculate, too immaculate. Either she was the most self-controlled child Master had ever seen, or she had an over-controlling parent figure.

_Or both_ , Master thought, as Invi’s mother (given that the woman was the spitting image of the Invi whom Master had Seen so often, he assumed they were related) walked into view, her voice loud and carrying, “—and she’s her teachers’ first pick for the private school up the hill. Doe and I are so proud of her. We have to make weekly trips to the library to keep up with—”

But Invi wasn’t paying attention to her mother’s bragging words as the woman blabbed on to a pretending-to-pay-attention friend. Her eyes flitted across the various fruits in the stall, her hands tightly controlled at her sides but her fingers twitching slightly as her wide eyes roamed the stall: Master could imagine a hungry mouth was hiding under that scarf, like the expression Luxu often made when Master lost track of time and forgot lunch.

Smiling, Master walked closer, grabbing a strawberry as he went. The girl’s mother was too busy bragging to her friend to pay much attention, so Master shrugged back his hood and went to meet his next apprentice.

As he approached, Master’s vision split, and he stumbled slightly. The little girl, her gaze full of wonder and intelligence, still stood before him, but his left eye saw a taller figure, with the same style of scarf pulled up over her mouth, a snake mask obscuring those bright eyes, and her lithe form held upright through willpower, not actual joy.

With his hood pushed back, Invi had a full view of Master’s electric blue eyes (which always seemed to capture everyone’s attention), but her eyes quickly turned to the giant red strawberry between his black-gloved fingers.

“Would you like a strawberry, Invi?”

The girl’s eyebrows furrowed at the name, but shook her head. “Mama said strawberries are only for special occasions.” Her voice was slightly muffled under that scarf, but she spoke clearly. Even this young, and Invi was good with her pronunciation. Hopefully some of that would rub off on Luxu.

“Oh, but it is!” Master grinned at her, and Invi’s eyes finally went to his. “It is?” She asked, head tilted oh so adorably. She grew out of the puppy dog look eventually, but Master still found it adorable.

“It _is_ ,” Master repeated, and held the strawberry even closer. But the girl didn’t take it, instead shaking her head and asking, “What special occasion is it?”

She always would keep that insistence on knowing the truth. Even this young, and she sought out all the knowledge she could get at every opportunity. That mind was wasted in a school, here in some nowhere town.

“It,” Master began, grabbing one of her little hands and dropping the strawberry into it, “Is the first day of your apprenticeship.”

Although Master could see that she wanted to question what he meant, Invi finally gave into her desire for the fruit. With one hand she pulled her scarf down and with the other she carefully brought the strawberry up to her mouth, avoiding touching her uniform with the berry-stained fingers. She devoured it in a split-second, and, the treat gone, her gaze turned back to his. And Master was given his first full smile from the girl, as she said, “My name is Lyra, what’s yours, mister?”

Master returned her smile. “I’m Master.”

“What’s an app-ren-tis-ship, Mister Master?” Invi asked, carefully sounding out the word.

“Well,” Master said, glancing over at Invi’s mother to make sure she was still merrily chatting with her friend, “In your case, it means that you come with me to a new school, and you get some new friends, and get to learn magic! And once you’ve learned a lot of it, you will be able to protect people.”

“Magic?” Invi asked, her brown eyes so very wide. She’d forgotten to pull her scarf back up, and the varied speckles of her vitiligo around her mouth and chin caught Master’s attention. The girl would almost never let her scarf drop, even around the other foretellers. But Master felt a strange kinship with her, knowing that she too would have dealt with the stares that he had. People could be cruel in their fascination with anything out of the ordinary. That was one of the reasons Master always kept his hood up. Being a magician with a fancy weapon _and_ glowing blue eyes… It was combination that led to more than one invasive question. Master was more than fine to deflect and laugh, but Invi preferred to hide her marks. And learning magic would only attract more attention than just continuing on in her schooling.

But Invi’s talents were wasted on mere academia. “Yes, magic.” With a quick movement of his hand, Master sent two little lights spiraling from his fingertips. Invi’s eyes followed them, and Master saw her bounce on her toes in excitement. Master had Seen that she would spend enough time in the library to more than make up for dropping out of school anyway. “Whoa,” Invi gasped, her eyes tracking the lights as they twirled around Master’s hand.

“You’ll get to learn a lot more than you ever would at school,” Master continued, clenching his fists around the lights and snuffing them out. “And together with your new friends, you’ll get to help lots and lots of people.”

Invi’s smile was as bright as her eyes. But then there came a loud laugh from behind her as Invi’s mother continued chatting, and Invi’s face shut down. She glanced behind her, and apparently remembering, pulled her scarf back up to her nose. “Mama wouldn’t like it… She says I’m to go to school up the hill.”

But Master shook his head. He hadn’t Seen how he would convince the mother, but he figured the same script as last time would work. Parents tended to be pretty attracted by the _free-magic-apprenticeship_ offer. “Do you want to?” Master asked.

Invi’s eyebrows furrowed, like she’d never been asked that question before. After a second, she shook her head slightly and whispered, “No.”

Master’s smile just grew, and he made no attempt to cover it. “Well, good thing you won’t be going there, now isn’t it?”

“How do you know that?” Invi’s nose peeked out from her scarf.

“You’ll figure it out one day, Invi.” And Master reached out and tapped her nose, laughing at the surprised look she gave him in response.

...

_~fin~_

**Author's Note:**

> heyyy look who's back with more foreteller tomfoolery! yep it's me. I spend waaay too much time thinking about back cover so i just had to write more of this. and yeah it's a series now. Gula's next! I already have some of his written out but no promises as to when i'll be done enough to post it haha. If you want more foreteller content from me tho, check out my [headcanons](https://literally-in-too-many-fandoms.tumblr.com/tagged/kingdom-hearts-back-cover) on my [tumblr](https://literally-in-too-many-fandoms.tumblr.com/)!  
> .
> 
> Some notes about the fic:
> 
> I headcanon Invi to have vitiligo and dark skin, but don't have much else for her appearance-wise. but i really love her
> 
> Cool fact: _Lyra_ is Latin, and it has a lot of potential meanings. one of the most common is harp, but it could refer to poetry. Less commonly, it means genius or inspiration, both of which i really like for Invi.
> 
> .
> 
> thanks so much for reading, friends! hopefully it won't be two months til i update again, but no promises
> 
> hope y'all are having a great day wherever you are!


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